DysleX is a 21-year-old undergraduate of the University of Lagos whose journey to EDM started like every other person with the radio. He started off making remixes to Nigerian songs, one of which – his remix to Try Me by Tems, became a favourite on the radio. His remix of 10,000 hours by Dan+Shay featuring Justin Bieber recently got to 250,000 streams on Audiomack.
He told Netng how he got his name, saying it was initially an insult that he turned into a positive thing. As a lover of art and science, his brand logo is inspired by the mathematical formula dy/dx, in which he says he is a mathematical derivative of himself. He hopes to hear his songs play festivals someday.
How did you start making Electronic Dance Music?
“It came from my love for music that I did not know was electronic as at the first time I heard it. Funny thing is that I started out making DJ Mustard type hip hop beats with my phone but everything changed when I started exploring more EDM songs. Songs from Avicii, Jonas Blue, Calvin Harris, Martin Garrix and Alan Walker. And then, I completely fell in love with electronic music totally and wanted to make music like that. So when I got my laptop in 2016, that was the only thing on my mind.”
How did you feel the first time you heard EDM?
“The first song I liked that inspired me into going into EDM fully, I think it was on the radio, it was Avicci. Avicii’s Wake Me Up. That song was amazing. And you know sometimes when you hear a song for the first time and it catches you. Like it doesn’t catch you but you feel something. Then I heard another song, ‘Hey Brother’, that song gave me insane emotion that I’d never thought was possible. Ah, I really love that song.”
Did you ever think of switching back?
“After I felt attached to the genre, there was no going back. Due to electronic music’s wide array of sub-genres, songs can easily be fast-paced or slow, sad or happy. Different songs would just give you different feelings and also, the fact that you can hear alternate versions of the same song in the same genre is amazing.”
What motivates you to keep on with this genre despite the challenges as a Nigerian EDM artist?
“Starting wasn’t easy at all. I won’t lie. Even my friends, like it was alien to them. It’s not like they didn’t know, it just felt like something that would never work out in this country. And I noticed that when I started, not a lot of people liked it. Until I started improving. With life, I’ve noticed that when you improve, you get attracted to different kinds of people. And the more you improve, the more different types of people get attracted to you and they like what you do. So when I started improving, I got more support and that is what has helped me.
And I think the best support I’ve had all my life is my love for music. That hasn’t changed and I don’t think it’ll ever change. That is what has continued giving me the courage to make the music I love. Adapting has been very hard because I’ve noticed in this country, people like to force their knowledge on you. So they want you to do what they want to hear and that has been annoying. But anyways I fought around it, and thank God for everything.”
What do you think can help promote EDM artistes in Nigeria?
“I think I have like three solutions in my head right now. The first one would be increasing the amount of airplay EDM songs get in Nigeria. That would help a lot because I discovered EDM on the radio. Now imagine if they doubled the airplay, a lot more people would hear it. Another thing would be more articles on EDM artists and songs in Nigeria. I think that would help because a lot of people read articles and blogs.
One thing I think is the best for me is having an alternative, cause it’s done in mainstream music sha, alternative versions of their songs. First of all, it will help the artist a lot, it will give their music a wider audience. Imagine a slow song, becoming slower or groovier. It will appeal to a lot of people. Imagine an entire EP of different versions of different songs or the same song. If you listen to an EDM EP, it’s very hard to not like at least one or two songs.”
